Rotary cutting apparatus



A g- 30, 1966 F. P. CROUCH ETAL 3,269,235

ROTARY CUTTING APPARATUS Original Filed May 27, 1963 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 7.Fred .9 Crew M/bvr-M lock/mu BY O M WD M ATTORNEY5 'Aug, 30, 1966 F. P.CROUCH ETAL 3,259,235

ROTARY CUTTING APPARATUS 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed May 27, 1963INVENTOR$ Fr ed l C'ro ucl; W1 lb 0/- ATTORNEYS F. P. CROUCH ETAL3,269,235

ROTARY CUTTING APPARATUS Aug. 30, 1966 '7 Sheets-$heet 5 Original FiledMay 27, 1963 05 INVENTORS Fred P. Crouch Wilbur Lockraw ATTORNElfi 30,1966 P. CROUCH ETAL 3,269,235

ROTARY CUTTING APPARATUS '7' Sheets-Sheet 4.

Original Filed May 27, 1963 INVENTORS 5 0 I? Crouch y jcsa qi ATTORNEY5Wilbur M- Lac/(raw llllll'l'llllll l.

F. P. CROUCH ETAL 3,269,235

ROTARY CUTTING APPARATUS Aug. 30, 1966 '7 Sheets-Sheet Original FiledMay 27, 1963 INVENTORS Free! P Crn-uc}, Wilbur M. Lockrow ATTORNEYS 30,1966 F. P. CROUCH ETAL 3,269,235

ROTARY CUTTING APPARATUS Original Filed May 27, 1965 '7 Sheets-Sheet 6INVENTORS Fr d P Crouch Wl/bur M. Lockrou/ BY L Q 3 7M ATTORNEYS F. P.CROUCH ETAL 3,269,235

ROTARY CUTTING APPARATUS Aug. 30, 1966 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Original FiledMay 27, 1965 INVENTORS Fr d I. rou h Wilbur M. Lockraw ATTORNEY UnitedStates Patent 3,269,235 ROTARY CUTTING APPARATUS Fred 1. Crouch andWilbur M. Lockrow, Winston-Salem,

N.C., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Hanes Corporation,Winston-Salem, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina Originalapplication May 27, 1963, Ser. No. 283,252. Divided and this applicationFeb. 18, 1965, Ser. No.

4 Claims. (CI. 83-99) This is a division of application Ser. No.283,252, filed May 27, 1963, now Patent No. 3,192,809 of July 6, 1965.

The present invention relates to apparatus for use in the cutting ofcloth into blanks for subsequent sewing into garments. More particularlythe invention relates to a rotary die cutter for a continuous clothcutter of the type disclosed and claimed in said Patent No. 3,192,809.

As is well known, cloth cutting has been extensively done by placing oneor more layers of finished cloth in web form on a table, marking cuttinglines on the uppermost layer through the use of patterns or charts, andthen cutting vertically through all of the layers of cloth as markedwith manually or electrically driven knives or scissors. Occasionally,preformed stamping guides were used in specially developed reciprocatingpresses.

The well known layer method is of course useful, but it does haveseveral disadvantages. These include, for example, the extensive timerequired to set up and the inevitable size variation from layer to layerwithin one cutting, particularly in the stacks having a large number oflayers. Moreover, because of normal color variations in dyeing, matchingfrom the stacks of cut blanks used for the individual garments requiredtime. On the other hand, the reciprocating presses could only be usedfor limited and special jobs where production and waste were unimportantfactorsv Our invention as disclosed and claimed herein and in our abovementioned patent overcomes many of these difficulties, in that itreduces the number of man-hours required for set-up and operation. Foruse particularly with repeating patterns, such as T shirts and pull-overshirts, groups of blanks for individual garments are cut and stackedtogether, thereby eliminating color variations and providing a rapidcollection for subsequent sewing. Where earlier operations required atleast one and preferably two or three operators for each cutting andstacking operation, our invention need require only one operator forseveral operations.

An object of the invention of this application resides in the provisionof a cutting roller which can cut all of the blanks necessary for thesubsequent formation of a garment, and which roller may be adaptable forvarious patterns and operating sequences.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of such acutting roller wherein the cutting blades are easily removable andreplaceable.

A further object resides in the provision of such a cutting rollerwherein the cut blanks and waste portions are retained on or discardedfrom the roller as desired so as to facilitate distribution and furtherhandling of the cut parts by other apparatus with which the cuttingroller is used.

Yet other objects and advantages of our invention will become apparentduring the description of the preferred embodiments as described andshown in the attached drawings, in which like numerals represent likeparts throughout, and in which,

FIG. 1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of apparatus in whichthe instant invention is adapted to be used;

FIG. 2 is a top view with the scrap removal system removed for clarity;

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the cutting apparatus inaccordance with the instant invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a cutter roller according to theinvention, taken on line 5--5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view showing a cutter blade assemblyaccording to the invention;

FIG. 7 is a detail view showing the belt alignment means;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a sectional detail showing the detector and vacuum breakervalve apparatus;

FIG. 10 is a detail of the valve control mechanism;

FIG. 11 shows an alternate arrangement for a cutter blade assemblyaccording to the invention;

FIG. 12 is a pattern layout of a typical T-shirt suitable for use withthis invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of a second embodiment of apparatusincorporating the invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of a third embodiment of the apparatusincorporating the invention; and

FIG. 15 is a detail of a cutter roller suitable according to theinvention for use with the embodiment of FIG. 14.

As shown in the preferred embodiment, FIGS. 1-10, the continuous clothcutter includes a conveyor system generally designated 1, a cuttingroller 2, a counter-pressure roller 3, a scrap removal system 4, agarment blank transfer system 5, a receptacle and indexing conveyorsystem 6.

The conveyor system 1 generally comprises an endless belt 7, and forreasons as hereinafter described, preferably of stainless steel having ahardness of 38-40 Rockwell C, with a thickness at the center of .0322inch, a taper to the edges to a width of .0318 inch, and for knittedcloth, a width of about 26 inches. The endless belt 7 is driven by theend drive wheels 8 and 9, with lateral alignment of the belt 7 beingmaintained by the flexible V-belts 10 (FIGS. 1 and 7) bonded to theinner surface of the belt 7 (FIG. 7) and cooperating with the grooves 11and 12 in the drive wheels 8 and 9. Drive wheels 8 and 9 in turn aremounted by suitable bearing supports 13 and 14 on frame 15. Wheels 9 aredriven at a constant preselected speed through motor 16 and chain driveand sprockets 18, while wheels 8 idle at the preselected speed. Thediameters of the drive wheels 8 and 9 are sufficiently large to preventstressing by bending of the stainless steel belt 7, for example 34inches in diameter. The frame 15 in turn is supported by the verticallyadjustable legs 19. Both ends of the bearing support 13 for wheels 8 aremounted on horizontally slidable L-plates 20 bolted to the frame 15 bysuitable bolts through horizontal slots in the L-plates 20. The L-plates20 are adjustably positioned horizontally by the screw adjustments 21acting against the vertical surface of the L-plates 20, thereby enablingproper adjustment of the wheels 8 for proper tensioning of the conveyorbelt 7. The outer surface of the belt 7 may be roughened by sandblastingin order to ensure a good lay of the cloth.

Intermediate the drive wheels 8 and 9 is the cutting system includingthe cutter roller 2, the pressure roller 3 and the scrap removal system4.

In the preferred form for this assembly, the pressure roller 3 ismounted for rotation by an integral shaft 22 in turn carried by thebearing housings 23. The bearing housings 23 are fixed to the frame 15as shown in FIG. 8. Rotation of the pressure roller 3 is accomplished bythe chain and sprocket drive 24 as shown with a peripheral speed equalto the linear speed of the belt 7, as driven by the drive wheels 9.

The pressure roller 3 comprises a drum 25 having its outer ends 26 at agreater diameter, with the center transverse portion carrying the belt 7recessed no more than 3 and preferably slightly less (.006 inch) thanthe thickness of the belt 7 at its center. Provision of V-grooves 27 isalso made for reception of the V-belts 10.

The cutter roller 2 generally comprises a drum 28 having a hollowcentral portion 29 and radial openings 30 extending from the centralportion 29 to a portion of the periphery 31 of the drum. Circular endplates 32, 33 of larger diameter are bolted onto the drum 28, orthreaded thereon by utilizing the central portion 29. End plates 32, 33include outwardly extending stub shafts 34, 35 integral therewith. Oneof the end plates 32 and its corresponding stub shaft 34 include acentral bore 34a communicating directly with the hollow center 29 of thedrum 28.

Snugly fitting over the drum 28 and covering the peripheral drum portion31 having the radially extending holes 30 is a sleeve member 36. Thesleeve member 36 may be a single cylindrical unit having an outercircumference equal to the pattern repeating length, or may includesectional portions bolted to the periphery of the drum 28. In thismanner, the sleeve 36 can be removed, and others of different patternshaving the same repeating length, replaced.

The composite sleeve 36 is grooved according to the pattern to be cut,as shown in part in FIGS. 3 through 6, and each groove 37, as shown, isin the form of a 90 degree V-cut. Within each groove 37 is an elongatecutter blade 38 formed from lengths of inch square tool steel shapedaccording to the cross-section shown in FIG. 6 to form a 45 degreeincluded angle at the cutter edge. The blades 38 in turn are fixed tothe sleeve 36 in the grooves 37 by the heads of screws or bolts 39spaced along the length of and adjacent the grooves 37 as shown in FIG.6. We have determined that a 45 degree angle is optimum, in that bladelife is extended, long transverse cuts in cloth are still possible, andwarping and nicking is reduced.

The sleeve 36, while itself of hard, non-resilient material, may befurther hardened at its surface by known metallurgical means, as shownat 36a, in order to prevent any possibility of transverse slipping ofthe blades 38 in their respective grooves 37.

As an example of the pattern, FIG. 12 shows a layout for the manufactureof a T shirt, wherein (a) represents the garment blank portions and (b)represents the intermediate waste portions. The pattern is cut from adouble thickness web formed from a flattened tube of circular knitmaterial. The width of the pattern and the web is shown as (d) and thelength as (c). The dimension (c) is herein referred to as the repeatinglength; and for a maximum savings of material, the transverse cuts oftwo adjacent patterns can be made simultaneously by the same blade 38.Thus, the dimension (c) represents the circumference of the cutterroller 2, with an adjustment ratio of about .977 to compensate for theblade thickness.

The assembled cutter 2 is mounted between the thrust plates 40 fixed toframe 15 with the stub shafts 34, 35 extending through the open slots 41formed within the thrust plates 40. A floating collar 42 is provided foreach of the stub shafts 34, 35, which collars provide the bearingsurfaces for rotation of the cutter roller 2. A pair of tension bars 43connects each of the floating collars 42 to an additional collar 44mounted on the shaft 22 of the pressure roller 3. The tension betweenthe cutter roller 2 and the pressure roller 3 is adjusted by the nuts 45threaded on the tension bars 43 as shown.

From FIGS. 4 and 8, it can be seen that the rims of end plates 32, 33 ofthe cutter roll frictionally engage the rims of the end portions 26 ofthe pressure roller 3, with the belt 7 passing the recessed bitetherebetween. The thrust plates 40, or included thrust collars betweenthe plates and the cutter roller (not shown), provide for positivetransverse alignment of the roller to prevent transverse motion duringoperation of the apparatus.

Where thrust collars are provided, such thrust collars can be positivelyadjustable for various longitudinal and vertical positions in a knownmanner to ensure positive transverse alignment.

The cutter roller 2 is rotated at a peripheral speed equal to that ofthe pressure roller 3 by the friction drive between the circular endplates 32, 33 and the end po-rtions 26 of the pressure roller 3. Thus,it can be seen that, for patterns of different repeating length, theentire cutter roller 2 can be removed and others of different diameterreplaced in the open slots 41 and collars 42. Moreover, the drivingarrangement is not disturbed, or need not be altered, since thefrictional drive ensures an equal peripheral speed for the cutter roller2, independent of its diameter.

A vacuum hose 46 is attached to the stub shaft 34 and end plate 32having the central bore 34a, and a suitable vacuum source (not shown) isprovided for communication through the hose 46 and end plate 32 to thecenter of the drum 28. Corresponding holes 47 are provided in the sleeve36 only at the areas of the waste portions of the material intermediatethe garment blanks, which holes are in alignment with correspondingradial holes 30 of the drum 28. The remaining radial holes 30 areblocked off by the sleeve 36, such that only the waste portions of thecut web of cloth will attach themselves by the vacuum to the cutterroller 2 for rotation therewith.

The scrap removal system 4, partially shown here, includes a nozzleshaped opening 48, extending in the direction of the attracted scrap onthe cutter roller 2 as it approaches the nozzle 48 and across the widthof the cutter roller 2, and suitable duct work 49 connecting the nozzle48 to a high velocity vacuum system (not shown). The vacuum systemprovides sutficient velocity through the nozzle 48 for removal of thescrap held by the lesser vacuum of the cutter roller 2. In order toensure a proper flow of air, there is provided a two inch head portion,with the opening spaced from the periphery of the cutter roller 2. Atrailing portion 50 of rigid material spaced from the periphery or offlexible material riding the periphery is also provided. The materialscraps may then be conveyed through the connecting duct work to a scrapcontainer (not shown). The positioning of the nozzle 48 can beaccomplished by the use of known flexible ducting andpositive-positioning friction linkages.

At the delivery end of the conveyor 7 after cutting of the blanks is thetransfer system 5. The transfer system 5 comprises a pair of end rolls51 mounted for rotation on end supports 52 fixed to the frame 15.Passing around the rolls 51 are a plurality of transversely spacednarrow, endless belts 53; and driving of the belts 53 is accomplished bya drive belt 54 mounted as shown, or in any similar manner, such thatthe direction of movement of the belts 53 at their lower positions isthe same as the direction of movement of the stainless steel belt 7.Preferably, the driving means is fixed such that the linear speed of thenarrow belts 53 is slightly greater than the linear speed of thestainless steel belt 7.

In the area between the rolls 51 and the narrow belts 53 is a sheetmetal hood 55, which hood is open at the bottom and has a hose 56connecting it to a suitable vacuum source (not shown). Thus, as vacuumis supplied to the hood 55 through the vacuum source, any out garmentblanks on the stainless steel belt 7 will attach themselves to thenarrow belts 53 through the vacuum as air passes between the spacedbelts. By having the narrow belts 53 at a slightly greater linear speed,the tendency of the blanks to wrinkle as they transfer can beeliminated. Obviously a single perforated belt can be used, but spacednarrow belts have the advantages of inexpensive replacement and easieralignment.

Within the hood 55 are a plurality of flapper valves 57 extending alongthe entire transverse width of the hood 55, which valves divide the hood55 into a receiving portion 58 and a depositing portion 59. When closedthe valves 57 Will cut off the vacuum Within the depositing position andany blanks at that portion will fall by gravity. These flapper valves 57are made of slightly flexible material to ensure a tight closure. Thevalves 57 are pivoted about their respective shafts 60, and arepositioned by means of the pinion gears 61 and common rack 62 as shownin FIG. 10. The rack 62 is fixed to the armature 63 of anelectro-magnetic solenoid 64, which when activated, draws the armature63 downwardly against the bias of the spring 65 shown. This motioncloses the flapper valves 57, while on deactivation, the force of thespring 65 urges the armature 63 upwardly again to pivot the flappervalves 57 to the o en position.

While any suitable detector means may be provided, as shown here, aphotoelectric detector 66 from within the hood 55 is directed toward aspace between the belts 53 to detect the presence of any material beingcarried by the belts. Upon detection and suitable amplification asschematically shown at 67 in FIG. 10, the solenoid 64 is activated toclose the flapper valves 57 and cut off the vacuum at the depositingportion 59 of the hood. The cut blank is thereby released and may fallby gravity into the receptacle 68.

In order to prevent wrinkling of the blanks as they fall from thetransfer system 5, the receptacle 68 may be provided with a platform 69mounted on weak springs 70 as shown. Thus, the height of the platform 69is determined by the Weight of blanks already received thereon, andsubsequent blanks need fall only a short distance.

The receptacle 69 itself is supported on the roller system 71 and may bemoved out of position by hand and another receptacle substituted, orsuch removal be accomplished by means of a known indexing means when thereceptacle receives the appropriate number of blanks. Such indexing maybe accomplished by a counting of the number of times of operation of thephoto-electric control system or by a weight measurement on the rollers71. In this manner, transfer of the receptacle 68 may be accomplished byusing positive driving rollers during operation of the indexing system.

In the operation of the apparatus as described in the preferredembodiment, a web of cloth 72, suitably knit material of the gauge usedfor T-shirts, undershirts, etc. (.032 inch thick) is rolled or stackedin accordion layers at the receiving end 73 of the apparatus. Thisportion of the belt may vary in length depending on the necessaryinspection or pre-cutting station. The forward end of the cloth 72 isaligned at some suitable marking on the belt 7 for proper cutting andthe machine motor drive is turned on. The stainless steel belt 7delivers the web of cloth 72 to the cutter roller 2, and after cuttingthe selected cut blanks for the finished garment proceed on the belt 7,while the intermediate scrap material is held to the cutter roller 2 forsubsequent transport to the scrap removal system 4. As the cut blanksapproach the transfer conveyor belts 53, the vacuum applied to thetransfer system 5 lifts the cut blanks from the stainless steel belt 7and holds them against the transfer conveyor belts 53. Thereafter, aseach cut blank approaches the detector system, the electro-magneticsolenoid 64 operates to close the flapper valves 57 and cut off thevacuum at the deposition portion 59 above the receptacle 68, at whichtime the blank is dropped into the receptacle.

Thus it can be seen that cutting may now be done continuously with asingle operator for one of a group of such machines. For changes in thepatterns to be cut, only the cutter roller 2 need be removed, andaccording to the disclosed embodiment, the driving means need not bedisturbed. For patterns utilizing the same diameter of cutter roll,replacement sleeves 36 may also be considered. Moreover, new cuttingblades 38 may be inserted at only a moderate expense.

While stainless steel has been described with respect to the belt 7,some materials other than stainless steel may be used, provided theyhave substantially the same properties. For example, nylon, celluloseacetate, tin, aluminum and galvanized iron were all used, but such werenot suitable. It is important that the material be non-resilient, veryhard, and non-oxidizing or in any way not contaminative of the cloth.Both the cutter roller 2 and pressure roller 3 are to be ofnon-resilient hard material and positively positioned in a non-resilientmanner.

The cutter roller 2 in the embodiment shown for cutting of T shirts hasa diameter of about 11 inches and weighs approximately 300 pounds. Theretaining tension bars 43 are of one inch diameter cold rolled steel andare tightened by the nuts 45 at more than hand-pressure. Thus, theweight of the roller 2 with the negative tolerance described, limited inchange of position by the elasticity of the cold rolled steel bars, issufficient to cut the knitted cloth. However, it is important to notethat such positive direct tension through rigidity is necessary withrespect to the cutting of closely knit material, and known springs donot provide sufficient force. As an alternative, we have successfullyused one or more pressure rolls rotatably mounted in housings on an axisparallel to the cutter roller and acting on the end plates of the cutterroller 2 in axial opposition to and in a manner similar to the action ofthe pressure roller 3. In this form, the tension bars connect thehousings to the collars 44 of the pressure roller 3. A furtheralternative would be the use of hydraulic or combinationhydraulic-pneumatic pressure application means at the rollerextremities.

For most knitted cloth, a plane surface on the stainless steel belt 7may be suflicient. However, the roughened surface by sandblasting can beconsidered in order to maintain a proper alignment of the web of clothon the belt.

In the embodiment of the cutter blade shown in FIG. 11, the one surface74 of the blade 38a facing the intermediate waste portions is madeconcave with the same included angle of 45 degrees; and by such, thewaste portions may be held on the cutter roller 2 by the surfaces 74around the periphery of each waste portion, thereby eliminating or atleast substantially reducing the amount of vacuum necessary forretention of the waste portions on the cutter roller 2 for transfer tothe waste removal system 4.

In an alternative embodiment of apparatus incorporating the invention,shown schematically in FIG, 13, the stainless conveyor belt iseliminated, and the blank transfer system is further utilized as a clothweb delivery means.

The transfer system 5a, including the spaced narrow belts 53a, hood 55aand associated vacuum and detector systems, and the receptacle andindexing conveyor system 6a are all of the same construction as shown inthe preferred embodiment. Similarly, the pressure roller 3a and cutterroller 2a are of the same construction and mounted in the same manner asin the preferred embodiment, except that the center transverse portionof the pressure roller is not recessed to compensate for the conveyorbelt, although a similar negative tolerance is desirable.

In this embodiment, the web of cloth 75 is fed by the upper sides of thebelts 53a, to the bite between the cutter roller 2a and the pressureroller 3a. As in the preferred embodiment, the vacuum from within thecutter roller 2a attracts the waste, while the blank portions arecarried on to the transfer system 5a by means of an endless flexible Webbelt 76 passing around rollers 77 and driven at a linear speed equal tothe peripheral speed of pressure roller 3a and the linear speed of thebelts 53a. The belt 76, by pressing against the roller 3a, retains theblanks against the surface of the roller 3a until the blanks adopt ahorizontal attitude. To ensure that the blanks do not continue on aroundthe pressure roller 3a, there is provided a peeler bar 78, which peelerrides against the surface of the pressure roller 3a, in a manner similartoa calendering mechanism for web-forming machines.

The waste is removed from the cutter roller 2a by a waste hood 79connected through suitable ducting 80 to a high velocity vacuum source81.

In a further embodiment incorporating the invention, as shownschematically in FIGS. 14 and 15, the stainless steel conveyor belt isagain dispensed with, and an air pressure system rather than vacuum isutilized within the cutter roller.

As before, the transfer system b, including the belts 53b, hood 55b, theassociated vacuum and detector system, and the receptacle and indexingconveyor system 6b are all of the same construction as shown in thepreferred embodiment. The pressure roller 3b is of the same constructionas the pressure roller of the preferred embodiment, except that thecenter transverse portion, as in the embodiment of FIG. 13, is notrecessed for compensation of the conveyor belt.

In this further embodiment, the web of cloth 82 is first fed around thepressure roller 3b, as shown, to the bite between the pressure roller 35and the cutter roller 2b, where the cutting is accomplished. Behind eachtransverse cutting blade 38b forming the beginning of a blank portion,there is associated a transverse row of pins 87 attached to a block 88slidable within a keyed slot 89 formed at the periphery of the cutterroller 211. As the pins 87 approach the bite between the pressure rollerand cutter roller, they drop by force of gravity and are exposedsufliciently to grab the leading edge of the web of cloth 82, as formedby the associated cutter blade 38!). Then, on further rotation of therollers, the leading edge of the web is carried on around the cutterroller 2b to enable the subsequent cuts for completing another blankportion. As the pins 87 approach the peak of revolution of the cutterroller 2b, they drop to within the slot 89 by gravity to release theassociated blank portion. At this point, the blank portions are peeledoff by a peeler bar 83 and attracted to the belts 53b of the transfersystem 5b. In lieu of the gravity means, the pins 87 may be urgedoutwardly by suitable spring means within the slot 89, and may be cammedinwardly by a suitable stationary eccentric circle cam at the ends ofthe cutter roller, with the block 88 functioning as a cam follower.

Waste removal is accomplished by the utilization of another highvelocity vacuum source 84, a waste collect-ion hood 85, and associatedducting 86. Instead of the vacuum system Within the interior of thecutter blade 2b, as described in the preferred embodiment, an airpressure system is used, sufiicient air being provided to blow off thewaste from the periphery of the cutter roller at the Waste portionsthereof and into the Waste collection hood 85. In all other respects,the construction according to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 islike that of the preferred embodiment.

It is of course obvious that yet other details of construction can beresorted to without departing from the spirit of our invention or thescope of the subjoined claims,

We claim:

1. For a continuous cloth cutter, a rotary die cutter comprising: a drumdefining a hollow center and a plurality of holes extending radiallyfrom the hollow center to the periphery of the drum; a pair of endplates, each enclosing an end of the hollow center of the drum; fluidport means extending through one of the end plates to the hollow centerof the drum for communication therewith; a removable sleeve enclosingthe periphery of the drum and including a pattern of grooves accordingto a selected pattern; cutter blades each defining an anchoring portionfitting in the grooves and including faces on each side of the bladeedge; and screws threaded into the sleeve and including heads retainingthe cutter blades in the grooves through the said faces so as to securethe cutter blades to the outer surface of the sleeve in a selectedpattern forming separate blank sections and intermediate waste sections,the sleeve defining fluid flow openings connecting a part of the holesin the drum to only the part of the outer surface of the sleeve betweenthe cutter blades forming the waste portions, the remaining holes of thedrum being blocked by the sleeve.

2. A rotary die cutter according to claim 1 and further comprisingvacuum means connected to the fluid port means for holding wasteportions of cloth to the outer surface of the sleeve at the wastesections of the sleeve through the said fluid flow openings.

3. A rotary die cutter according to claim 1 and further comprising airpressure means communicating with the fluid port means for blowing offwaste pieces of cloth at the waste portions of the sleeve through thesaid fluid flow openings.

4. A rotary die cutter according to claim 3 and further comprising aplurality of pins exposed at the outer surface of the sleeve at theblank sections thereof to retain blanks of cut cloth on the surface ofthe sleeve, and means for retracting the pins to within the sleeve forremoval of the said blanks.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 705,041 7/1902Copland 83100 1,577,620 3/ 1926 Gammeter 83-98 1,797,448 3/ 1931 Sheldon83346 X 2,302,855 11/1942 Hallman 83100 X 2,445,831 7/1948 Hoffman etal. 83-100 2,523,153 9/1950 Shapiro 8398 2,887,964 5/1959 Griner 831003,106,121 10/1963 Novick 83-100 X 3,117,499 1/1964 Golding 83-100 XWILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

J. M. MEISTER, Assistant Examiner.

1. FOR A CONTINUOUS CLOTH CUTTER, A ROTARY DIE CUTTER COMPRISING: A DRUMDEFINING A HOLLOW CENTER AND A PLURALITY OF HOLES EXTENDING RADIALLYFROM THE HOLLOW CENTER TO THE PERIPHERY OF THE DRUM; A PAIR OF ENDPLATES, EACH ENCLOSING AN END OF THE HOLLOW CENTER OF THE DRUM; FLUIDPORT MEANS EXTENDING THROUGH ONE OF THE END PLATES TO THE HOLLOW CENTEROF THE DRUM FOR COMMUNICATION THEREWITH; A REMOVABLE SLEEVE ENCLOSINGTHE PERIPHERY OF THE DRUM AND INCLUDING A PATTERN OF GROOVES ACCORDINGTO A SELECTED PATTERN; CUTTER BLADES EACH DEFINING AN ANCHORING PORTIONFITTING IN THE GROOVES AND INCLUDING FACES ON EACH SIDE OF THE BLADEEDGE; AND SCREWS THREADED INTO THE SLEEVE AND INCLUDING HANDS RETAININGTHE CUTTER BLADES IN THE GROOVES THROUGH THE SIDE FACES SO AS TO SECURETHE CUTTER BLADES TO THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE SLEEVE IN A SELECTEDPATTERN FORMING SEPARATE BLANK SECTIONS AND INTERMEDIATE